Ericathephantom’s Weblog

I remember the days when the price reading on a petrol pump went up slower than the fuel gauge and I could fill my car up for thirty quid (its only a little car)! Now it’s a different story. I seem to be visiting the petrol station more than ever and disappointed that the needle has only moved a feeble inch. The fuel crisis is inevitable. Prices may rise and fall slightly but each year the average creeps up and up.

Admittedly, I do drive where I could just as easily take the bus. However, like so many others, I hate public transport. I don’t understand why, when people are being encouraged to use public transport more often, are ticket prices so expensive? If I were to travel to my student house in Birmingham from my home in Wolverhampton, it would cost around £8 and take on average an hour and a half. In my car, fuel would cost around £2.50 and it would take me 45 minutes. Plus, in my car, 5 people can make the same journey at any time. Not mentioning the unreliability, inconvenient and restricted hours of public transport. There is just no competition.

However, something has to be done. Sometimes driving is the only way, as with the transportation of heavy goods. Recently, fuel protests have gone underway by lorry drivers. The price of fuel is affecting businesses, as one driver quotes: “it now costs over a thousand pounds a week to fill up a lorry…the economy and our companies can’t cope.” (BBC)

People blame the government for fuel prices. However, people fail to recognise that fuel is becoming ever more scarce. It is logical that the more rare, in demand and harder to get something is, prices are bound to increase. Gordon Brown can’t just dig a hole in his back garden and make a new oil well for British citizens. The bottom line is that fuel isn’t going to be around for much longer and we need to find other ways to power our cars and get around. Wilful ignorance won’t get us anywhere.